


Help, I’ve Fallen For You & I Can’t Get Up

by BriMarie



Series: The Book of Love: Rini Drabbles [11]
Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Childhood besties, Cuties, Drabble, F/M, Fluff, Klutz, Nini Salazar roberts - Freeform, Secret Crush, clumsy, high school musical the musical the series - Freeform, hsmtmts, rickini, ricky bowen - Freeform, rini - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:35:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24960934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BriMarie/pseuds/BriMarie
Summary: When Nini begins to fall for her best friend, she finds herself becoming a total klutz when she's around him.
Relationships: Ricky Bowen & Nini Salazar-Roberts, Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts
Series: The Book of Love: Rini Drabbles [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1757938
Comments: 4
Kudos: 52





	Help, I’ve Fallen For You & I Can’t Get Up

The first time she realizes she was clumsy around Ricky she had practically broken her spine.

They had planned to hang out at her place on a Sunday afternoon while her mom's went out grocery shopping. She had left the door unlocked for him like she usually did when she knew he was coming over. She heard the front door open from the top of the stairs and smiled when she saw his familiar vans. 

"Hey Neens!" 

She began to make her way down the stairs but stopped when she saw him. She couldn't explain it, but there was just something different. He wasn't wearing anything out of the ordinary for him, but for some reason she found her heart beating a little faster than normal at the sight of him.

Has he always had that beauty mark? Was his voice always this alluring? Were his eyes always that captivating? 

"Is there something on my face?"

He began to wipe around his mouth, and she felt embarrassed for being caught staring.

"No, you're perfect."

He gives her a crooked smile, and she feels like she might just melt any second now. She feels stupid for even feeling this way when he has given her multiple crooked smiles throughout the years. She continued to look at him as she made her way down, which ended up being her downfall. Literally.

She unfortunately hadn't noticed a sock that one of her mom's had dropped when they were doing the laundry and managed to slip on it. She tumbled down the remaining stairs landing on her back when she finally reached the floor.

All she felt was pain in her spinal region and a little bit in her neck. "Ow."

She heard footsteps quickly approaching her and saw Ricky looking down at her with a concerned face. "Oh my god, Neens are you okay? That looks like it hurt." 

She gave him a pained smile and a thumbs up. "Yeah I'm fine, but can you help me up?" 

He helps her to her feet and guides her to the couch. "You gotta be more careful. What were you so distracted by anyway?"

She blushed not wanting to tell him the actual reason. "I wasn't distracted by anything. I just happened to not be paying attention to my surroundings; that's all." 

He raises a brow, but decides to not push the topic any further. "If you say so. You stay here while I get you some ice for your back and some snacks for us, okay?" 

She nodded and gave him an awkward smile. He surprised her with a gentle peck on her cheek before walking to the kitchen. Her brain almost couldn't decipher what just happened. He has never kissed her on the cheek before. Before she could fully even soak in what just happened, he's plopping down next to her with chips and an ice pack for her.

He furrows his brows when he looks over at her. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

She shakes her head to snap out of her thoughts. "Sorry I was just deep in thought. Let's just watch some tv." She could feel his confused look on her, but was glad he didn't press the subject. 

He had stayed for a few hours before calling it a day. The moment he left, she groaned due to frustration in herself. She was acting like a total dunce around him today, and she wasn't sure why. 

When she had gone to bed that night, she found herself tossing and turning. She could not get her best friend off of her mind for the life of her. She decided to pass it off for now. Whatever this foreign feeling was is most likely temporary.

***

The second time she does it was at school two weeks later.

She had been talking to Kourtney about their weekends at Nini's locker. They had been interrupted whenever a familiar voice had called her name.

"Yo Neens." A deep yet attractive voice said behind her. When she turns around and sees it's Ricky, she accidentally drops her (thankfully) empty coffee cup and begins to giggle awkwardly causing both him and Kourtney to look at her weird.

"Oh hey Ricky. What's up?" She nervously began to play with the ends of her braids. 

"I was just wondering if you still were down for going to the mall with me to help pick out a bday gift for Big Red this Saturday." 

She nods a little too enthusiastically. "Yeah definitely! Just text me whenever you're coming over to get me." 

He smiles. "Yeah of course. See you later Neens." Nini watched as he walked away until he was no longer visible. Kourtney waved her hand in front of her face to regain her attention.

"Girl what the hell was that?"

"What the hell was what?"

Kourtney folded her arms. "Don't play dumb. I saw what just happened. You have never acted like that around Ricky before. What changed?" 

Nini pushed some of her hair behind her ear and nervously looked at the floor. "I don't know what you're talking about." She didn't even believe herself.

"Nini, you were all bubbly when he was speaking, and you even watched him leave. Do you like him or something?"

"W-What? No! Of course not. Don't be ridiculous Kourt, that's my buddy." Her voice went up an octave. 

"Okay well when you finally admit that you're being weird, I will be here waiting to say I told you so."

Nini rolled her eyes and closed her locker. "Oh shut up. There's nothing weird going on."

***

There was _definitely_ something weird going on.

The third time she acts out of character around him was when they went to the mall that Saturday.

Before he came to pick her up, she had dressed a little nicer than she usually would to just be strolling through the mall. When she got a text from Ricky saying he was outside, she felt her heart skip a beat.

She says a quick bye to her parents before making her way down to his car. She hops into his car and is greeted with a hug. She felt her head go fuzzy the moment he wrapped his arms around her. She has to mentally slap herself to get out of this trance.

"Ready to go?" He says as he cranks up his truck.

"Yep!"

He gives her a small grin before turning his attention to the road, and she felt her heart begin to act up again. She turned on some music so that she could be distracted from her own lingering thoughts not wanting them to consume her.

The ride to the mall was quick. He had been a gentleman and opened her car door for her, which made her trip on her own feet. Luckily, he didn't notice it. She really needed to keep it together.

He had locked arms with her like he usually did as they strolled through Zumiez. She absentmindedly rested her head on his arm as she listened to him talk about some guy in his history class that keeps pissing him off. As much as she wanted to focus on what he was saying, she couldn't.

She was too distracted by how warm he was and how fit his arms were in spite of him not regularly working out. She thought about how perfectly their arms linked up with each other despite the extreme height difference, and don't even get her started on that new cologne he's been wearing.

"Nini, did you hear me?"

She jumps at the sound of her name. She looks up at her bewildered best friend. 

"I'm sorry! What did you say?"

He holds up a Rick and Morty skateboard and shows it to her.

"I asked do you think Red would like this?"

"Oh, yeah of course he would! He loves that show."

He looks at her skeptically. He's been looking at her like that a lot lately, and she can't say that she blamed him."Where's your head been lately?"

She tries to think of something to say, but was cut off by one of the employees.

The woman smiles at them."Hi, can I help you guys with anything? By the way, you guys make a lovely couple."

Nini's legs suddenly became jelly and she stumbles into Ricky's side. Luckily, he catches her before she gets to the ground. She feels her cheeks begin to redden already. 

"Uh we're fine actually. We're just gonna buy this board." Ricky handed her the said board, and the woman gladly brought it to the register. Ricky looked down at his friend.

"Nini, I'm starting to get a little concerned. Is everything alright?"

She waves him off. "Oh it's nothing really. I was just a little thrown she called us a couple." That wasn't exactly a lie. They have been confused for a couple many times since they were in middle school, but she usually didn't act like this.

He stares down at her with the same face Kourtney had given her earlier this week. He finally decided to laugh it off.

"You're so weird."

She giggles nervously. "You're not the first to tell me that this week."

Ricky buys the board and Nini gets Red a t-shirt and he takes her home. They sing along to the soundtrack of Shrek 2 on the way back to her house because he claimed it was indeed a masterpiece. When they pull in front of her house, he opens the door for her and pulls her into a goodbye hug.

She automatically felt herself relax and adored the way her body morphed into his. When he let go of her, he kissed her cheek. Her eyes were the size of saucers, and she forgot how to breathe for a moment. This makes the second time he's done this in the past two weeks. She wasn't sure why he started doing this, but she wasn't complaining.

He smirked and seemed amused by her reaction. He pokes her side to snap her back into reality. She jumps from the sudden sensation causing him to chuckle and for her to slap his arm.

"See you later weirdo."

She begins to walk to her front door, but decided to turn around to look at him one last time before going in. She saw him waiting for her to enter, and she trips over one of the stairs on her porch.

"You good?" She hears him ask.

She holds up the perfect symbol not wanting to look at him due to both embarrassment and fear of possibly falling on her face. When she enters her house, she waits for Ricky to leave her driveway before she texts Kourtney.

_Nini: Okay so maybe I am acting a little weird._

***

The fourth time she does it, he practically sweeps her off her feet.

They had gone to a county fair with Ashlyn, Big Red, Carlos, and Seb. The other pairs had kind of naturally split off to do activities together leaving them as 5th and 6th wheels. They didn't mind that much though because they loved spending time with each other.

Nini's eyes lit up when she catches sight of a photo booth. She tugs on his arm. "Oo we should take some pics! I can add them to my little collage of polaroids in my room." 

He can't help but grin when he sees how excited she got. How could he say no to her? "Yeah let's do it."

She drags him to the booth, and she quickly realized how tight the space is. She feels his hand on the small of her back and shivers from the sensation.

"I guess you'll have to sit on my lap."

She has to restrain herself from falling right then and there. She swore this man was going to cripple her by the end of the year.

"Yeah it seems that way."

He sits down and opens his arms for her. She tries to avoid eye contact as she sat down on his lap. He snaked his arms around her frame and rest his head on the crook of her neck. She could feel his breath tickling the hairs of her neck. 

"Uh how about this filter? It'll make our eyes pop." She says trying her best not to focus on how close they were. 

"Anything is good to me babe."

She drops her phone on the ground when he says that. She swiftly picked it up and pretended like it never happened. "Cool." She says quietly. When the count down started, they smiled normally while he hugged her close.

"Silly one next?" He asks.

"Sure!"

She smooshes his face and crosses her eyes while he gave her bunny ears and bugged out his eyes. 

"Okay the next one is the last one. Do a serious one." She suggests.

While the booth timer was counting down, Nini looked into the camera and noticed he was staring at her with an expression she doesn't think she's ever seen on him. It was almost like he was studying her. She turns her head to look at him and immediately was trapped in a trance when she met his intense gaze.

He brought his hand up to her face and grazed his thumb across her cheekbones and traveled all the way to her lips not losing eye contact with her. She finds herself glancing down at his lips and wasn't even aware that both had begun to lean in.

Their lips meet in the middle. The first thing she thinks is how soft his lips were and how right this felt. Just as soon as the kiss started, it ended. He didn't take his lips off of hers as he smiled. 

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that."

She feels her body become overwhelmed with joy and her legs became noodles again. She was just glad that he was supporting her weight right now because she definitely would've fallen.

"I would really like to do it again."

He smirks as he pushes some loose strands of her hair back. He connects their lips again except this time he deepens it. She pulls his collar so that she can be even closer to him. She licked along his bottom lip and was disrupted by someone knocking on the outside of the booth.

"Come on! There's other people waiting!"

The pair looks at each other and snickers. They finally get out, grab their photos, and say a quick sorry to the couple that was waiting on them.

Her hand finds its way into his as she looks at their photos. "These came out pretty damn good actually. Even the last one." She helps the pics in front of him. He smiled when he looked at the last photo they took because it was taken right before they kissed.

"I love it." Suddenly, he twirls her and brings her close to him. 

"So what now?" He played with the ends of her braid nervously awaiting her answer.

"Well obviously we like each other."

"Yep, I got that."

"And usually people who like each other tend to go out on a date to see where things go..."

"Yeah that's usually how it goes."

"And if it goes well, they become something more."

"That's what I'm hoping Neens."

She smiles and collides her lips with his for another passionate kiss.

"Then let's do it." She says against his lips.

He gives her a few more kisses before finally making their way to the next attraction.

Neither knew what the future had in store for them, but both knew that in this moment being together in each other's arms sharing sweet kisses under the moonlight felt like heaven.

***

_I can't stop thinking about it  
I want you all around me  
And now I just can't hide it  
I think I'm fallin' for you _

**Author's Note:**

> I actually got this idea from the song Clumsy by Fergie despite the lyrics at the bottom being from Fallin For You. Anyways, hope you enjoyed :)


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